Electrical safety need not be emphasized further in this age and time. In order to make sure our electrics are safe it is important to get them checked and approved by a contractor who is registered in the electrical Safety Register.
This is somewhat similar to taking the car to the garage for an MOT or getting a heating engineer to provide servicing and maintenance to your boiler. An Electric Installation Condition Report happens to be the safety certificate that assures electrics in your property are safe. It is provided by a qualified and licensed electrician and the certificate or report is more by its acronym EICR.
As far as private properties are concerned, an EICR or Electric Installation Condition Report must be done every ten years. Landlords – on the other hand – need to get a fresh Electric Installation Condition Report every time their tenants change or every five years – whichever is earlier. If you fail to comply with these norms and your electrical system remains unchecked and unmaintained insurance providers are likely to cash on this issue and refuse claims that are caused by electrical faults.
Till now not enough people are aware of these electrical tests and checks. In modern times, life without electronic gadgets is simply unthinkable. All those gadgets and equipment are powered by electricity. It is of utmost essential to stay electrically safe and this is why it is always recommended to have a registered and professional electrician to work on your installations.
Mishaps and casualties resulting from electricity show a scary statistic in the UK. As many as 70 people get killed and 3, 50, 000 are seriously injured every year only because of electrical faults. In addition to that almost half, of the accidental house fires across the country are also caused by faulty electrics. In order to curb this huge loss, the government has introduced the latest regulations making a comprehensive electric check mandatory.
An Electric Installation Condition Report – what is it?
An EICR is a comprehensive check that covers the fixed wiring of an electrical installation. Basically, you can call it a snapshot of an electrical system to ascertain whether it is safe and complies with the regulations. The check – however – also identifies any potential threat or safety issue. It is all about checking the existing wiring, along with the fuse board, earth bonding, and many other nitty-gritty elements that you have hardly noticed. Why? It is because these are the underlying components of any electrical system and those could spell danger for you.
How the test is carried out?
The electrician you have hired to carry out the test will arrive at your property. First the professional will carry out a visual assessment and that will be followed by a series of checks on your electrical system. If in the process the expert uncovers or comes across any ‘Code One issue, he will try to fix it then and there.
Even if he cannot fix it, he will make the necessary arrangements to make the issue safe for the time being. By the way, Code One issues are those that are immediately dangerous. He may, in the process of testing, come across ‘Code Two’ problems. This category of electrical issues is potentially hazardous. He will give you a quote to resolve such problems at the end of the inspection. There may also be ‘Code Three’ issues mentioned in his report, which are recommendations that are not deemed unsafe.
At the end of the testing procedure, the electrician will put up a report that spans over seven pages and no less. Then a qualified supervisor is supposed to sign off the report, which indicates the report is correct. The entire paperwork may take a few days to get processed.
What must be checked during an EICR?
An electrician performing an EICR will check whether the fuse board is safe and comply with the current regulations related to electrical safety. In other words, this means whether the fuse board (also called consumer unit or CU) has necessary protection devices like circuit breakers and RCD.
RCD is the acronym for Residual Current Device and is meant to protect you from fatal electric shocks in case you touch something live. The expert also confirms whether all the components are earthed properly. If this earth connection is not there or is faulty you are also likely to experience fatal electric shocks.
The electrician will check the earth connection for your gas meter pipe network, water pipe network, all metallic elements, and radiators inside your property. They also perform a sampling test of the existing sockets, switches, lights, and other electrical accessories. This sampling covers at least 10% of the installations mentioned above and is meant to assess whether the wiring is installed correctly.
The majority of buildings do not pass this test with flying colors. One of the reasons behind this dismal performance is the regulations are getting updated frequently almost every other day. A building that is found to be compliant today may not be a couple of years ahead.
What are the common issues that fail properties in the test? These include the following –
Absence of earth bonding to the gas pipe network as well as the water mains pipe network
An outdated fuse board or CU
On the positive stride once a major defect is corrected, the problem does not relapse easily and thus the amount of cost and effort involved in further checks turn out to be pretty nominal.
What to look for in your EICR electrician?
It is of utmost importance that your EICR provider is a qualified and experienced electrician. As you may know, NICEIC, STROMA, and ECA are the regulatory bodies for the electrical industry in the UK. Instead of going for EICR testing cost, it is more sensible to focus on the qualification of your electrician carrying out the test on your property. An NICEIC registered electrician is pretty much ideal to hand over this responsibility.
The electrician must also spend ample time conducting the test. Every property may be different but it is important each area of a property is thoroughly checked. A visual check itself may take up an hour and there goes another hour for filling up the forms and the paperwork.
